Now, mea culpa, I repent

November 22nd, 2009

Q: I’m one of your BIG FANS and also President of Nitpickers Anonymous. So I couldn’t believe my ears when I heard you say on WNYC “as far as” without a following verb. And not once, but TWICE! As in, “As far as your question, I’m afraid I can’t answer that.” I was calmly driving along, listening to you on the radio, when all of a sudden I nearly drove into a tree! Tell me it isn’t so.

A: Mea culpa!

You are absolutely right. I misspoke. I should have said, “As for your question…” or “As far as your question goes…” and I mistakenly conflated the two.

That wasn’t the first time (as I’ve been told).

One of the perils and terrors of live radio is that I have to think a couple of sentences ahead, and meanwhile MY MOUTH IS STILL WORKING! Always a dangerous situation.

I will try harder in the future.

By the way, “mea culpa,” from the post-classical Latin for “through my own fault,” has been used in English since the early 13th century to express one’s guilt or responsibility for an error.